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A World of Ruin The Dark Fiend of the Land slashed a demon in half, spilling its burning blood. Gregor was still in Neo Aurora, after Robert had blasted him off Lurias Plateau. Now, all he wanted was to get the hell out of this demon-infested city so that he could get back to Jennie. Demons had him completely surrounded. Gregor slammed his clawed gauntlet into the ground, sending out a seismic shockwave. Most of the demons fell over, but a few managed to withstand the blast. Roaring angrily, Gregor dashed toward one of them and punched right through its head. Then, he grabbed another and slammed it against another nearby demon. After swinging the demon around some more, he threw it into a building, which promptly collapsed from the force of the throw. Running along the street, he strived to reach the stone steps of Lurias Plateau. Unfortunately, a large horde of demons, about forty or so, came into his path. They were a huge swarm, so with his clawed gloves, Gregor had a slashing frenzy. In the first two seconds, six demons had been reduced to pulp. Three seconds later, four more were mutilated. At that moment, though, the rest of the demons had jumped on him, forming a dog-pile. Although they couldn't pierce his stone skin, by the Heavens, they were annoying! However, a few seconds later, most of the demons were plucked off his back. As Gregor threw the last one off, he saw a figure with long, tangled black hair and a body of black hide hovering a few feet in the air. The black figure raised its arms, and a few surviving demons were lifted into the air. Then, he put his hands together, and the demons were mashed into a clump. Finally, the black figure fired something out of his hand. It seemed long and pointed, but Gregor couldn't really make out any specific shape. It looked more like a blur in the air. The attack tore through the rest of the demons, leaving only a bloody mess. "Are you a Dark Fiend?" the Land Fiend asked. "Yes," the black figure replied. "I am the Dark Fiend of Doom." "You here to rescue me?" Gregor continued. "No," the Doom Fiend responded. "I'm here to kill you." The Doom Fiend fired another ether spear at the Land Fiend, but Gregor jumped aside and plunged his hands into the ground. Suddenly, an arm of dirt tore through the concrete road and wrapped itself about the Doom Fiend. Then, the individual grains of dirt melded to form solid stone, completely encasing the Dark Fiend. "Haha, yes, I got him!" the Land Fiend cheered. "You thought you were going to kill me, but instead, I buried you!" Then, Gregor coughed blood as he felt a sharp, biting pain in his back. "How foolish," came the Doom Fiend's voice from behind him. "Don't you realize that I control the ether? When I fold the ether around myself, I become invisible, and you fell for the trick. Then, it was child's play to take a shortcut to get behind you." The Doom Fiend then threw the Land Fiend up into the air. With a simple gesture of his hands, Gregor's turtle shell armor cracked and shattered. Then, as the screaming Dark Fiend of the Land hit the ground, the Doom Fiend stabbed his hand into the Land Fiend's heart. The air blurred. Gregor screamed as his black hide tore off, then his skin, then his muscles and innards. Finally, his bones dissolved, leaving only a green orb of energy, which flew into the Doom Fiend's body when he extended his arm. "Three," the Doom Fiend said simply as he walked away. "The wounds are sealed, but it still hurts!" Stephanie complained. It was the day after they had left Neo Aurora. Every few hours, Stephanie had applied a Healing spell to her wounds and to the wounds of everyone else, but hers had by far been the worst. "Robert, you know how when you got stabbed and I healed you?" Steph asked. "Yeah," Robert replied. "It's still sore." "Hmm..." Stephanie contemplated. "I guess nothing can ever replace good old fashioned recovery time." Alice was still piloting the hovercraft. She had done quite well with Robert's car back when Robert still had a car, so they had no qualms with letting her fly... as long as Robert, who sat in the passenger seat, kept an eye on her. Stephanie broke the silence by saying, "Vince, did you fight those demons because I was in danger, or was it because of what I said?" Vince quietly replied, "I fought to save you, but I guess I'll keep in mind what said about the demons... next time we fight them... if we ever do." "Yeah, that sounds fair," Stephanie said. Vincent turned away and stared at the ceiling. Stephanie had noticed this new habit of his. Ever since they had left Gehenna, Vince had been rather quiet and avoided talking. She knew he was thinking about things, but she never found out what. "Hey, I'm getting something on the TV," Robert interrupted. That caught everyone's attention. Shortly after the demons had swarmed out of Gehenna, TV stations all across the nation were knocked out. This was, perhaps, because the demons destroy everything indiscriminately, and that probably included TV stations. In any case, it had been a while since they had a source of news, so long that they really didn't know what was going on outside of what they could see out the hovercraft window. Hopefully, whatever they would see on the TV screen would change that. "This is a Special Report," the news anchorman announced, "the first since the Information Blackout at the beginning of the war. We report live from Washington, DC. As everyone knows, demons are swarming the countryside. Every state government as well as every economically large city, such as San Francisco, New York, Boston, has been taken by the demons. All other cities in the United States have either been overrun or are currently unaccounted for." "Good Heavens," Stephanie briefly commented. "The only exception," the anchorman continued, "is the nation's capital at Washington, DC, which is currently under heavy siege. The US Military has formed a defensive perimeter around the nation's capital, hoping to keep our national government safe. Over the last few days, refugees from all over the nation have flocked to DC, hoping to find safety from the demon attacks. Any other survivors are advised to seek refuge in DC, as the military currently has its hands full and will mostly be unable to help anyone outside the Maryland-Virginia area. This is Joseph Tarric signing out." Robert turned off the monitor and immediately said, "It's settled. We're going to Washington." "Why?" Vince sharply replied. Robert was surprised by the response. "There are refugees going to Washington," he shouted. "We're refugees, and we're hungry. They're going to feed us food there." "We're not going," Vince answered simply. "But I'm hungry!" Alice complained. "And since I'm driving..." With that, the hovercraft began turning. "No, we're not," Vince shouted as he leapt up and grabbed Alice. She screamed and thrashed about as Vince pulled her from pilot's seat. She hit and scratched at Vince, but her brother didn't flinch. Failing that, Alice tried to grab a hold of the steering wheel. The hovercraft lurched, swerved, and turned over. It was then, when everyone had lost their balance that Vincent succeeded in removing his sister from the driver's seat. Stuffing her into the back row, Vince spun the steering wheel and turned the hovercraft right side up again. "Vince, what is wrong with you?" Robert yelled. "That's you're little sister!" "Which is precisely why she has to do as I say," Vince coldly responded. "Vince, what's gotten into you?" Stephanie shouted. "First, you want to fight the demons. Then, you refuse to fight when the demons come. Now, you're not letting us to go DC because you still want to fight even though you don't want to?" Vince stopped. "I... I'm sorry," he muttered. "I don't know what came over me. Sometimes... sometimes..." Vince's voice faded away. For a minute, he sat there, staring out through the windshield, deep in thought. "There have been a lot of things on my mind lately," he said. "Sometimes, I get distracted, but that was still no excuse for the way I acted. Sorry, Alice." With a twisted expression of displeasure on her face, Alice said, "Apology accepted, but I'm still hungry." Vince then grabbed the steering wheel and turned the hovercraft around. "Vince," Stephanie spoke softly. "You said you had a lot on your mind. I've seen you sitting there, staring at the ceiling, and thinking a bunch, but you never told me what it was you were thinking about." "Tina," Vince answered simply. "And Chrissy. And Mindy." "Vince, Tina and Chrissy are dead," Stephanie responded. "But Mindy might still be alive," Vince replied. Stephanie hesitated but a moment before continuing. "And you want to find her, right?" When Vince nodded, Stephanie added, "All right. If that's what you really want, then I guess I'll go with you." "Thank you," Vincent whispered. "Man, I don't like it either," Robert added. "But if you and Vince are going, then no way am I going to ditch you. I'm in." "But I'm hungry," Alice rudely complained. "A person can go for three weeks without eating," Vince stated. "Deal with it." Alice groaned, but then, Stephanie put her arm around Alice to comfort her. "Have patience," she whispered to Vincent's little sister. "Vince is having one of his mood swings again." In a barren land, covered with debris and dried grass, clusters of demons had gathered. Some were pacing about restlessly. Others were wrestling with each other. Still others slept. Larger demons, covered with muscle, hide, and spines, ran from cluster to cluster, and, as demonic taskmasters, roared orders in the form of barbaric warcries. A group of demons were attempting to tie strips of hide to a dragon, but the monstrous creature refused to cooperate. It lifted its head, dragging the leather strips and throwing several of the demons onto the air. Elsewhere, a clan of demons tried to subdue an enormous wurm, twenty feet in diameter and hundreds of feet long. Like the dragon, this beast refused to cooperate. It squirmed around, and cries could be heard as several demons were crushed. At the center of it all, a woman with long red hair and a blood red cloak stood in front of a glowing arch. Through the arch, she had a view of an even more barren land, one filled with lava and volcanic ash. On the other side, there were even more demons. An eight-foot tall figure slowly stepped through the arch on hoofed feet, stooping slightly as he walked. Although he stood on two thick legs and had two muscular arms, he wasn't human. His body was covered in dark green, brown, and black scales. His face was slightly curved and very round. His eyes were slanted and glowed bright red. His nose was virtually non-existent. What he had in its place were two slits, pulsating with each breath he took. His mouth was a jagged row of teeth covered by thin lips, lips that failed to cover only two long fangs. At the top of his head were two, long, curved horns. "Queen Persephone," the demon said with a deep, hoarse voice. He gave a bow, bending his body so far that his clawed fingers touched the ground. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last." "You need not bow, Efreet," the woman in red responded. "You are the General of the Demon Army. That means that you are my equal, not my inferior." "Yes, but your husband, our Lord Hades, is my superior," Efreet explained. "So I shall treat you with the same respect I treat him." "Polite one, aren't you?" Persephone laughed. "In any case, we brought you here to the Earth Realm so that you could personally oversee the Demon Army yourself. I will not tolerate failure, nor will my husband." "I shall not fail," Efreet assured. "My strategy is currently working exceptionally well. With my swarm tactics, the pathetic humans do not stand a chance. We have more demons fighting for us than there are humans on this realm. They will be overrun all too easily, and the war will be over in no time." "Let us hope it stays that way," Persephone said. "It shall," Efreet replied. "I shall personally see to it." The Demon General slowly headed outward, toward the gathering demons. "There is a city, a site of an ancient battle between Alliatus and Shadow twelve hundred years ago. I shall build my fortress there." Persephone nodded as Efreet walked away. "Now that the Demon General is here," she thought, "it won't be too long before we take back what is rightfully ours." Stephanie was now flying the hovercraft. It had been a few days since Vince had pulled Alice out of her chair, and now everyone was starving. Yet, Alice was the only one who complained. It was probably her age. She was, after all, the youngest of the group. She was fourteen, while Stephanie as sixteen, and Vince and Robert were both seventeen. Now, Alice sat right behind Stephanie, leaning against the inside wall of the hovercraft. Occasionally, she groaned and kicked out of hunger, frustration, and impatience. It would have been worse, though, if Vince hadn't stopped at a forest so they could pick berries to feed Alice's complaining stomach. Unfortunately, they managed only grab a handful of berries, but at least it was better than nothing, and Alice had gobbled it down greedily. Robert sat next to Alice, patting her on the back and whispering, "Come on, Alice. Have a little patience. We're all hungry, not just you. Just hang in there. Food will come. You won't starve to death." Alice groaned even louder. Vince sat in the passenger side seat, next to Stephanie. Unlike the others, though, he appeared perfectly calm. In fact, he was sleeping, while most of the others had had their sleep patterns disrupted so badly that regular sleep was impossible. In his sleep, Vince appeared serene and tranquil, as Stephanie mentally noted. Vincent Zeng sailed through the air, floating effortlessly, hanging on the ethereal winds high up in the sky. No doubt, this was a dream. There was no way Vince could possibly float like this in the real world. The sky was in twilight, except for one corner, where the sun was slowly setting creating a beautiful mosaic of red, orange, and pink. At the other corner of the sky, the moon smiled at him. Stars scattered about to fill the sky and winked at him. A light breeze blew across the plains, making the grass tremble. "It's so serene and tranquil," Vince said. "Why can't the real world be like this, without all the demons and the wars going on?" Suddenly, Vince twirled around. It was beyond his control. It was as though his dream were moving him of its own accord. Vince sped across the countryside, faster than even the hovercraft had ever gone. He shot past two small mountain ranges and stopped by a lake. Then, he slowly descended. By the lake was a small town, a quiet town. The sun had set, and one by one, lights were coming on. There was a large building at the center of it all. Vince got a good look at it before he suddenly dropped down to the lakeshore. There, he saw a figure lying in the sand. "Tina?" Vince asked. No, it wasn't Tina. It looked a lot like her, but she was too young. The girl opened her eyes. "Hmm?" she moaned. "Vince?" Vince woke up. "Holy Heaven!" he shouted. Looking out the window, he could see they were flying over the place he had been when his dream began. He remembered. Yes, the setting sun had been on his right as he flew, and he remembered the distance. "Holy Heaven! Two hundred miles to the south. There's a town by the lake. We have to go there!" "Wait, what are you talking about?" Stephanie asked. Vince looked at her, barely able to contain his excitement. "I know where Mindy is." |